Carpintarias de São Lázaro

R. de São Lázaro 72, 1150-199 Lisboa

28 . 09 . 2024 → 31 . 10 . 2024

thursday - saunday → 12:00 pm – 06:00 pm

Artist

Fernando Brito

The photographic project “Nas Hortas” (“In the Vegetable Garden”) is the third chapter of a trilogy entitled “Mapa#454” (“Map#454), which deals with the creation of (sub)urban vegetable gardens involving the spontaneous occupation of land. In this sense, the project is an inquiry into transformation processes and the reinvention and creation of intimate relationships with places. I stopped at two of these vegetable gardens, both located on the south bank of the river Tagus, in an area that extends along the Ribeira de Negreiros (or Ribeira de Coina), bordered by the road E.N.10 and the highway Autoestrada do Sul/ A2, close to the town of Quinta do Conde.

Over the span of the project, I observed the different ways in which the agents of transformation relate to the land, as well as the ways in which this relationship materializes. The visual seduction produced by the sculptural appeal of the buildings made with salvage and recycled materials contrasts with their vernacular nature and utilitarian function. These buildings are the most visible expression of an intensely intimate relationship with the territory. On the other hand, the spontaneous nature of the occupation and the daily self-management of these commons are deeply political and poetically charged actions, which stick out as acts of resistance and resilience in the face of the dominant territorial management policies.